Thursday, September 30, 2010

Hello everyone and welcome back to day 6 of the Holiday Madness tour! Wow! Only one more day left! I can hardly believe how fast this week went. And here we are at the beginning of October. If you have followed the tour you have been to my upline's, Janet Wakeland's, blog and there she tells us how many days till Christmas. I think the last time I saw it, it was like 86 or something? So I do hope that this blog tour has given you all some great ideas. I am excited to try some of them out!

So today I am back to doing a card. I haven't been creating as much this week. Seems like I have been busy with other things so today I sat down to play along with the Featured Stamper on Stampin' Connection. This week the featured stamper is Kathy Baffone. I don't seem to find a blog for her but if you are a demonstrator you can check out her gallery on Stampin' Connection. Anyway, I was inspired to make this card. I wanted to keep a "vintage" feel to this card with the snowflakes that I used. And I think it worked. It was so super easy to do and could easily be mass produced for Christmas cards! Who knows? It might be mine? We will see. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to click on the link below to go to the next stop on the tour!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Hello everyone and welcome back to another day of Holiday madness! It's Thursday and that also means a new challenge at Create with Connie and Mary! You all get a "two-fer" today - LOL!! So I combined the challenge, which is Anything BUT a Card challenge along with the Holiday madness tour. And this is what I came up with! Now my closest friends know that I do not sew very well so they are probably really shocked right now (lol). I have actually been working on this for quite a while. And I will not show it up real close because it has many flaws but overall I think it turned out quite nice! My Home-Ec teacher would probably give me a failing grade but it will stay together :)

I used the new designer fabric from the Holiday mini and the Pennant die to make the triangles. They are doubled with batting in the middle to make them a little "puffy". I used the Alphabet Simple Letters to die cut the letters and glued them on with crystal effects. Then I just embellished each one with some of our new big designer buttons and seam binding ribbon. I also used a little vintage trinket on the bow. Then I strung the triangles together with some narrow Early Espresso taffeta ribbon. That's it! Here are more pictures of each letter:

And there you have it! So, there a few things that you will need to remember to do. First, click on the link below and go through the tour and get even more inspired. Second, make a project for the Anything BUT a Card challenge at Create with Connie and Mary. Third, post your project at Create with Connie and Mary! And lastly, Have FUN!!! See you tomorrow!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Hello everyone and welcome back to more Holiday madness! The blog tour week is sure going by very quickly! And I have had an awesome time showing you some of my favorite projects!

Today I am back to doing a card. I made this card a while ago and I just love the way it turned out. I had made a card a few days ago using this same stamp. But I just love him!! It is so easy to make really cute cards with this stamp!! And I do love the non-traditional colors of the Candy Cane Christmas designer paper. Christmas doesn't have to be red and green. This card is super easy and could be mass produced for family and friends. And really isn't that bulky so it could be mailed easily as well.

Thanks for stopping by and have a super day! Come back tomorrow for more Holiday Madness. But for now be sure to click on the link below to continue through the tour!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Welcome back to day three of the Holiday Madness tour! Are you getting tons of ideas for the upcoming holidays? I know I am! Yesterday I saw several ideas using the Simply Adorned product line and now I am inspired to get mine out and do something with it! Thank you ladies! So be sure to check back and see if I follow through - lol!!

So today I wanted to do something other than a card. Cards are so easy for me and I wanted to post something else. I had ordered these cute Mini Lunch Sacks from the Holiday mini catalog a while back but I haven't done anything with them. So, I decided I was going to do something and here is what I came up with! This is so SUPER simple but I thought it turned out cute! I used the Snowflake #2 die and cut it out of the backing that comes with the designer paper to make it a little sturdier. It's not as thick as cardboard but thicker than regular cardstock. Then I covered it with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I used the new Tags Til Christmas stamp set and stamped the tag. It is meant to be punched out with the 1 3/4" circle punch but I cut it out. Then I used that punch to punch out a circle from Baja Breeze cardstock. And that is attached with dimensional to the snowflake. I wrapped the lunch sack with a 1" strip of Candy Cane Christmas designer paper. It is not glued to the lunch sack but attached with a glimmer brad which is also in the new Holiday mini catalog. Then I used some silver tinsel (also in the Holiday mini) to attach the snowflake to the designer paper. The tinsel is really cool as it is a little "wiry" and very easy to "mold" the way you want it! I just twisted it a few times to secure it! It took me longer to type this all up than it did to put it all together! I hope you enjoyed my little treat bag today. Come back tomorrow for another holiday idea. And be sure to click the link below to continue through the tour. Have a super day!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Hello everyone! I am so glad you are back for day 2 of the Holiday Madness Tour! I am so excited to be showing you more Christmas ideas! I have lots of cards to show but I am also working on some other projects so be sure to check back everyday to see what I have been working on! And be sure to go through the tour as there are MANY other ideas out there!! This is really a talented bunch of ladies and I am so glad to be a part of this!

So for today I have made another Christmas card. I really do like the way this one turned out. I am also in love with this stamp set, A Cute Christmas. You can find it in the new Holiday mini catalog. And to think... I almost didn't want it! What WAS I thinking?? I have used this cute little snowman more times than I can count! And the other images are so cute, too! I also love the new Candy Cane Christmas designer paper! I love the non-traditional colors in the paper. And I love to use them on my Christmas cards. On this card I also used the new Tasteful Trim die and the new Northern Frost decorative strip (both from the Holiday mini catalog). Thanks for stopping by and have a super day! Don't forget to click on the link at the bottom to take you to the next stop on the tour! And be sure to stop back by tomorrow for another Christmas idea!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Hello everyone! I am so glad that you decided to join us on the RemARKable Holiday Madness Blog Tour! If you continue to click through the tour you will eventually end up here again. So sit back and be prepared to get some wonderful Christmas ideas!!

My Christmas project today is a card. I was thinking that it would be my Christmas card for family and friends, but I just couldn't wait to post it! And who knows? Maybe it still will be my Christmas card - lol! It is so super easy!! And that's what I really love about it. You could easily reproduce this card and I believe that you really wouldn't have too much trouble mailing it, either. I had heard somewhere that the kraft color was going to be "in" for this Christmas season. Anyway, I really liked the way it turned out. Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to click on the link below to go to the next stop on the tour! See you tomorrow!

Good morning everyone! It's the weekend! I found myself not really being able to sleep in. I hate it when that happens! Is it because of the full moon? I don't know, but that is what I will blame it on. This weekend is the Fruita Fall Festival. So downtown Fruita is closed to cars and ALL kinds of vendors are set up down there for the weekend. They also have live music and carnival rides. This morning Fruita will have its parade. We won't be able to go to that as we have a soccer game but it is always fun to watch. We will probably go down later today. It actually started last night and will run through tomorrow afternoon. It's fun to go to and the kids love the rides but it sure does do damage to the pocket book!!! Holy cow are those things expensive!! I love to go for the food! YUM! And there is so much to pick from! I will need to start thinking about what I will get this time - lol!!

Today's card was inspired by a CPS sketch. I believe it was last week's sketch. I am still not sure that I totally like this card but it's all right. I got the colors from the colourQ challenge blog. I love these colors and will need to try them again together. These colors also make me think fall and that's why I like them together, too. Well, that's all for today!

Be sure to stop by tomorrow when the RemARKable Holiday Blog Tour starts! We will be featuring wonderful products from the Idea Book & Catalog and from the new Holiday mini catalog. And it will be all about Christmas! I can't wait to show you all the ideas that I have come up with! I look forward to seeing you all this next week! Have a great day!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Good Friday morning everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful week! Mine seemed to fly by. And I don't feel like I have had adequate stamping time. I will need to fix that. But later this morning I have a massage. Ahhh! And boy do I need it!! I slept on my back wrong last night and now I have a kink in it. So it will be good for her to work that out today. Yesterday I got my hair highlighted and cut and boy does that feel good! I got some new kind of hair spray from the salon and it has the BEST smell to it! I was getting all kinds of compliments on the "perfume" I was wearing and it was my hairspray!! How cool is that? I just thought that was really neat.

Today's card was inspired by a sketch at Unscripted Sketches. For this sketch they added another challenge to it: make it monochromatic. I love monochromatic! It is so fun and easy! Monochromatic doesn't mean you have to use the exact same colors but the same shades or hues of the color. So for mine I used shades of brown. I used Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, and Chocolate Chip. This is a super simple card but I wanted to highlight the designer paper. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Good morning, Friends! It's Thursday and that means another challenge at Create with Connie and Mary! This week's challenge is to get inspired by this really FUN cake! Take a look...

There is a whole lot going on here and it was hard for me to focus but here is what I came up with...

I took the colors, the flowers and the diamond pattern as my inspiration for this card. I used the same color of cardstock for the diamonds as the card and then sponged that same color onto the edges of each diamond. I got the diamonds from a punch that I had purchased from another store - a non SU punch. But I really like the look of the diamonds. I used the basic pearls because of the pearls around the cake and the colors that I saw were Blushing Bride, Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, and Cherry Cobbler. And even though the cake seems to be sort of whimsical, it is still elegant and that is what I was going for on this card.

So there you have it! Be sure to check out the rest of the design team and see how they were inspired! Then make your own project and post it to Create with Connie and Mary so we can all take a look. I would love to know how others are inspired by this great cake!

And don't forget about Create with Connie and Mary Holiday Edition! I am sure this will be a super one and one you won't want to miss! Their preview projects are just so fabulous! And the tutorials for these preview projects are FREE! Plus you have a chance to win a FREE subscription to the Holiday Edition! Be cure to check it out!! Have a great day!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Good morning, Friends! I hope that your week is going by wonderfully! Mine seems to be flying by! I was going to do some stamping yesterday but I never made it down to my room. Instead I did several mounds of laundry and cleaned my floors. Well, I got the first layer of dirt off my floors :). I still have another load of laundry and I need to go grocery shopping. I have to make dinner earlier on soccer practice nights because practices were moved to an earlier time. We are running out of daylight before practices get over. Bummer. I really don't like the shorter days. But today is supposed to be rainy and cooler and I am excited about that! Real fall weather! However, when I look out to the west all I see is blue skies. Hmmm... We will see!

Today's card was inspired by the catalog. You can find it on page 77. I think that monster card is soooo cute and I am close to buying the set but I am not really sure who I would give those cards to, so I don't get it. But I still think it's cute! Anyway, I thought I could use the same basic layout with another set. I just love the catalog for that very reason! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Good morning, Friends! I hope that your week is off to a great start! The days just seem to be flying by around here! I hope that you all had a chance to go through the Control Freaks blog tour. If you didn't, you can do it at any time. We keep the links up and they should link directly to each post. I hope that helps! I am looking forward to a quiet day of stamping. I do need to do some laundry but that's about it.

Today's card is from a sketch that I found at Stampin' Addicts. The sketch was a super simple one and I wanted to try something a little different. I used by Tasteful Trim die for this one. I just love that die! It really has so many possibilities! I also used the Spider Web embossing folder and then took a sponge with some white craft ink and lightly highlighted the spider web. My "Happy Halloween" greeting doesn't show up as good as I would like it to but it's there. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Hello everyone! I am posting my Control Freaks blog tour post a little early so we can work out any "bugs" should they come up. The entire tour will be up and running later tonight or you can view it tomorrow.

So, if you are going through the tour, then you probably came from Mary Brown's awesome blog. She always has great projects! If you just started with my blog, well, that's o.k. because if you continue through the tour, you will end up right back here. So sit back and enjoy the tour! The theme this month is Fall/Thanksgiving/Halloween. These are my favorite times of the year!

So my first project is a simple little candy holder. I used the new Candy Wrapper die from the Holiday mini catalog. I just love how it turned out!

I used Basic Black cardstock and the Candy Wrapper die. Then folded it all up. Then I took some Wicked Fun designer paper and some Cajun Craze cardstock to embellish it a little. I added the greeting from the Wicked Cool set and there you have it! I didn't want to put too much on it and hide the way cool and fun designer paper, so I kept it pretty simple. This die is so much fun and you can use it for many other occasions!

My next two projects are cards. This first card is a Thanksgiving card.

I just love this Autumn Splendor set! This is a very simple card to do. I used the color combination of Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Cajun Craze and Wild Wasabi. Then I added some Crumb Cake brads. The words and the leaf are stamped on Very Vanilla. The greeting comes from the set Grateful Greetings. A great set to have for the upcoming holidays!

My last card is my favorite! I just love this stamp set! It is the Greeting Card Kids stamp set and the images in it are just so sweet!

For this card I used Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, and Pumpkin Pie. I also added in a little Daffodil Delight and Basic Gray as well as some Sahara Sand to give it a little shadow. I stamped the image on Shimmery cardstock and water colored it using my aqua painter. I also used my new Tasteful Trim die to make the little zig zag line in the background. The Tasteful Trim die is another "must-have"! And then I topped off the card with a greeting from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set and a black button that has a piece of Pumpkin Pie cardstock in it. Super simple!

I hope you enjoyed looking at my projects as much as I enjoyed making them! Remember to click on the link below to visit Jan's blog. She always has super projects to show! Enjoy!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Good morning everyone! This is an early post as we are participating in a fundraiser this morning. It is for Nick's competitive baseball team and we are putting our time in early as we have double header soccer games this afternoon! Whew!! Anyway, it should be fun and we are looking forward to raising money so we can do many baseball tournaments this spring.

Today's card is one that I did at this month's shoebox club. It is inspired by the catalog cover. I had been wanting to try this for some time and finally decided to give it a go. I just cut strips of varying lengths of the Wicked Fun designer paper and some sold colored cardstock. Then I glued them to a piece of Whisper White cardstock and ran it through the Big Shot to cut out the Top Note piece. Then I ran the Top Note piece through the Big Shot again using the Spider Web embossing folder. Cool, huh! Then some embellishments and a greeting and there you have it! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Good morning everyone! It's Friday! Nick doesn't have school today so he is sleeping in. Wish I could have. But he has a friend coming over and I need to make myself "presentable". Better not be walking around in my pajamas - lol!! Last night was kind of a rough one. One of our little kitties was being extremely aggressive towards the other one and nothing we did could calm her down. Then when we were ready to go to bed I found three little "surprises" on our bed! That did it for me! Now we couldn't be sure which one did it but the same little aggressive one kept coming to check on the blankets and sniff around, etc. So, I just thought it must be her. The other kitty just settled in next to Nick in bed. The rough part was that my husband and I immediately made this kitty an outdoor cat. No inside for her! It just broke Nick's heart. Which broke mine. But you just can't have a kitty/cat that can't do her "business" where she is supposed to. It just smells too bad! So today I have to go and find a new comforter and blanket. And yes, we did need new ones as these were falling apart but I wasn't quite ready to spend that money yet. The other kitty will eventually be outdoor as well but she will be able to come in once in a while. So we didn't get much sleep as the outdoor kitty kept mewing to get back in. She will figure it out...

Today's card was inspired by Mary Jo's lunchtime sketch challenge. I haven't played along with her challenges in quite a while and thought it was time. It did take me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with this one. I think that I got it figured out. I really like the colors on this card. They are so bright and cheery! And I haven't used this set so I thought I would get it inked up for the first time. Great sketch and an easy card! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Good morning, Friends! It's Thursday and that means another fabulous challenge at Create with Connie and Mary! Today's challenge is a sketch challenge - my favorite!! And it is a fantastic sketch! Look!

And here is my version of the sketch!

I think that I had used Wicked Cool on my last sketch challenge from Create but this set is just way too much fun so I am going to it more and more! And here is yet another way to use this great set. I hope that you find inspiration from this sketch and will participate in this challenge!

I also want to make sure that you all are aware of what is going on at Create with Connie and Mary. If you notice in my sidebar I have an advertisement for their upcoming Holiday Edition of Create with Connie and Mary. They are currently running an early bird special for these projects. And they are also showcasing some WAY cute projects of examples of what you will get when you register for their Holiday Edition. For lots more information about this, head on over to their blog. You will also find a way to get FREE subscription to their Holiday Edition!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Good morning everyone! Boy! I didn't know if I was going to get my card to post or not! Every time I tried to get the card to come up Blogger kept turning it sideways! Very annoying! I don't know why it does that... But I think I got it right. So I have to say that our little kittens are about the cutest thing ever! They are still very skittish around us but they are getting really used to Nick. He took them out of the laundry room last night and let them run around the living room. They were so funny! Chasing each other, jumping over everything and just exploring. And it is really interesting that if one leaves the room, the other starts hollering! They do not like to be separated! They had fun chasing each other around the house this morning and then Nick put them back before he left for school. They will sleep most of the day and then he will get them back out when he gets home. I am hoping that they will be able to be out all day by the end of the week. It is a real pain having to climb over the barricade every time I want in the laundry room (lol).

Today's card was inspired by a sketch from Clean & Simple. It was a sketch from last week but I really wanted to give it a try. Super simple! I also got the new Word Play stamp set and wanted to get that inked up for something, too. I thought this turned out really nice. I got my color combination from the new Color Coach and I think I really like it a lot! I will have to use it on some other cards. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Good morning everyone! I have to say that it is not quite fall around here. I love the cool evenings but the days get very warm still. I know it will all change in good time but I am ready! The leaves are starting to change around here so I know it is getting close! Last night we got two new additions to our family. We got two little kittens! Nick is so excited!! We had a cat given to us back in February but this past July she up and disappeared. She was such an AWESOME cat!! We really miss her but when you live in the country, there is no telling what can happen. We did wish that she might show up again but we know that is most likely not going to happen. So last night a friend asked if we would like to have another. We said yes and we took their last two little ones. I hope that maybe they can help protect each other. They are inside right now and probably will be for quite a while. They are still pretty small. So I am glad that I can be at home to watch them and get them used to our house. Too fun!!

Today's card is one that I made up from a sketch that is on the Stampin' Connection website. It is such a great sketch!! I have to say that I am in love with this card! And it was so fun and easy to make! I know. Snowflakes are not pink but I like the way it looks on this card. (That was for my friend, Becky :)) Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Good Monday morning everyone! I almost forgot I needed to get up and get my son going this morning!! Yikes! I usually wake up earlier than he has to so that I can have some calm and peace and quiet. And he has been waking up to an alarm but we can't always count on that because he is quite the SOUND sleeper. So I woke up one minute before his alarm was supposed to go off. Well, he set the wrong time for his alarm and it didn't go off. Thank goodness I did wake up when I was supposed to!! Now he is off to school and all is well :). Now I can sit and blog and stamp. At least for a little while. I do need to start the laundry and go to the grocery store. But that is exactly why I am enjoying staying at home!

Today's card was inspired by a sketch I saw at the Card Patterns blog. It is sketch 80. I believe it was last week's sketch. I feel like I am "a day late and a dollar short" with these sketches but that's o.k. This card isn't my favorite but this little snowman is just too cute! So the card isn't a total loss (lol). I used the Northern Frost decorative strip for the snowflakes. Well, time to get my day started! Thanks for stopping by and have a super Monday!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Good Sunday morning everyone! What a delightful morning! There is a nice cool breeze and I just didn't want to get out of bed. So I am posting a little later than usual but staying in bed for a little extra longer was worth it! I think the family is going out for a nice brunch in a while and then the Broncos play this morning and then the Rockies this afternoon! It is going to be a great day!! And hopefully they will win, too :)!

Today's card was inspired by Lis Lung. I don't think that she has a blog (at least I couldn't find one). But Lis was the Featured Stamper at Stampin' Connection last week. I would give you all a link to Stampin' Connection but it is only for Stampin' Up! demonstrators. So if you are a demonstrator, be sure to look up her fabulous gallery! And if you are not a demonstrator, maybe you would like to become one? Just ask me how!! Anyway, I really liked the layout. I did change it up a bit. Anyway, it is a really nice clean and simple layout. Thanks for stopping by and have a super Sunday!!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Good morning everyone! I hope your weekend is off to a great start! Mine is as I got to sleep in. Ahhh! We are having some really great cool fall nights and that helps me sleep so much better. We have the windows open and I just love to snuggle under the blankets! We have our first home soccer game later today! I am looking forward to that. And the temperature should just be perfect! Other than that, we get to have a somewhat lazy weekend!

Today's card was inspired by a sketch but I can't remember where I got it. I used one of my favorite stamp sets, Greeting Card Kids! They are just so adorable! I took my color combination from the Wicked Fun designer paper. The lace and the brad are new items from the new mini catalog. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Good morning, Friends! It's Friday!! And I got some new toys yesterday! I didn't really have time to play with them yesterday but I have some fun ideas in the "works". I am participating in a couple of blog hops this month (check out the side bar to see when they will happen) and I will most likely showcase fun ideas with my new stuff then. But I am sure that I will not be able to resist and have to post something before then. We will see... So last night I went to my monthly shoebox club and had a BLAST! Everyone had such awesome projects and I am looking forward to using these ideas. Thanks, Ladies!!

Today's card is one that I did for a recent swap that I participated in. I love this card. But it does take quite some time! Mainly with the watercoloring. But I just love the look of the watercoloring. I watercolored on Shimmery paper for this one. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Good morning, Friends! It's Thursday and that means another Create with Connie and Mary challenge! Today's challenge is a color challenge and these happen to be some of my very favorite colors!! I LOVE fall-like colors! And, since fall is obviously on its way, this was a perfect challenge! I know that you all will want to play along with this challenge! The colors that are to be used are Very Vanilla, Tangerine Tango, Crumb Cake, and Early Espresso. Yummy!! I don't know about you but I could NOT live without Crumb Cake!!

Anyway, I got the card layout from Splitcoast. It is an older sketch but I liked the clean and simple look of it. The card is pretty self explanatory. I did "scuff" up the edges with my cutter kit. It is hard to tell but there is a leaf that is stamped onto the Tangerine Tango piece (very subtle). I also sponged the edges of that piece and the whole card as well.

I hope that you all will find time to play along in this week's challenge. Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has come up with for this challenge. I can't wait to see what you come up with! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Good morning everyone! I have to keep reminding myself that we are halfway into the week! Tomorrow is a new challenge at Create with Connie and Mary! So be sure to check out what I did for that! So this morning we were awakened a little early with the sound of thunder! And then it rained. And now it is really nice and cool and I have the windows open to smell the fresh air. Love it! I don't know if it will do this any more today or if that was it. Sure is a nice change once in a while.

Today's card was inspired by a sketch at Stamping 411. I loved the clean and simple look of it and decided to give it a try. So super easy and so versatile! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Good morning, everyone! Does it feel like it should be Monday to anyone else? We came back from our wonderful weekend yesterday and I kept thinking yesterday was Sunday. Even though I think today should be Monday, I am glad that we have started the week. We had a great time in Ouray! It was beautiful and I got some great pictures. We were going to rent a jeep but that was a little out of our budget so we walked around the little town and visited their shops. Then we took a drive over Red Mountain Pass. We stopped at various places and took pictures. Nick had to work on a project for school so we did that. Pat took him to the hot springs pool. And the weather was gorgeous! Now it's back to the routine and time to get something done. Lol!!

Today's card was inspired by a sketch by Jen Del Muro. I wasn't sure that I could pull this one off because I just have a hard time getting my circles to look right. But I like the way this one turned out. And it really is super easy to do! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Good morning, everyone! And Happy Labor Day! Wouldn't it be nice to start every Monday off this way? With a day off from everything? For those of you who still have to work I do want to thank you for your services. And for all the hard working people out there - Thank You!! Right now I am not working. I get to just be "mom". A lot of people say that being a mom is the hardest job. Yes, but it is the most rewarding!! I may have an interview this week for a possible job as an instructional aide in one of the schools. We will see. The money would help but I sure like being at home, too. We are on our way home from Ouray and then it will be back to the "real" world!

Today's card was one that I did for a couple of swaps that I was in last month. I thought it would be safe to post it now as people are getting their swaps back. Can't wait to see mine! I really like the way this card turned out. It just makes me smile! I used the new Northern Flurry embossing folder and the new Tasteful Trim die on this card. Super easy! Thanks for stopping by and have a super holiday!!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Good Sunday morning, Friends! I am pre-posting this so I don't have much to say. Please try not to sound too excited. :) I will tell you about our weekend on Tuesday. We are enjoying some time away from home in Ouray. It is so beautiful here! I hope that you all are having a fabulous weekend!

Today's card was inspired by the catalog!! I was inspired to make this card from the card shown on page 76. Can you tell? They are different from each other but I guess that is the point. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to make and I really like the "pop" of yellow. Too fun! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Good morning, Friends! Ahhh! The weekend is here! I did manage to sleep in but woke up suddenly (because I definitely could have slept longer) when I realized that I need to get a load of laundry done before we leave. And I still need to pack. I kind of freaked myself out. But now I am sitting at my computer with my coffee enjoying the blogging world casually. Nice!! Week number two of school went well for Nick. He is realizing that he needs to be a little more responsible. This week they had homework and a spelling test. He said that he got a 100% on his spelling test so that is a "plus"!! He also told me that his bus driver gives a $1 to kids to get a 100% on their spelling test! So he is really excited about that! Where was this bus driver when I was in grade school? Spelling was my best subject!! Lol! Anyway, he will figure it all out. And if he doesn't? Well, we will do what all good parents do. :)

Today's card was inspired by a layout at CPS. I think that this very clean and simple layout has a lot of possibilities. And if you go to their website, you will see some very nice cards from their design team. And they are all so different! This was a super simple card but I did make my own background paper. My color choices were inspired from the Autumn Spice designer paper in the Holiday mini catalog. I love that paper but don't have it. This is a technique that we learned at convention but I forgot about it until Jill Crone (one of my team members) showed us at a recent team meeting - thanks, Jill! Anyway, you take a sponge and ink and just rub it on your paper. Here I used Early Espresso, Old Olive, More Mustard and Cajun Craze. After filling the paper with ink, you take your stamp of choice (for me it was the leaf from Autumn Splendor) and mist it with Stampin' Mist cleaner. Yes, it sound weird but that is what you do. Then stamp it on your paper! It is almost like a bleaching technique. Cool, huh! Give it a try! I did mist my stamp every time but you might be able to get several "inkings" from just one mist. Not sure. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and have a super day. Enjoy your extended weekend!!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Good morning everyone and happy Friday! And for many of us it will be a long weekend! Ahhh! My family is going to Ouray for the weekend. I thought we were done traveling for a while but this will be nice. It will be nice to go somewhere else and sleep in, swim (Nick's favorite thing), walk around lazily, have coffee, eat ice cream, smell the fresh mountain air, possibly go for a drive over Red Mountain Pass. Ahhh! I hope that you all will have a relaxing weekend as well. We won't leave until tomorrow afternoon but I will pre-post for Sunday and Monday. Fall is definitely coming!

Today's card was inspired by the FTL105 sketch from Clean & Simple. Love the layout and I like the way this one turned out. The layout is really versatile and super easy to work with. You will notice that I turned by card to give me more room for this stamp. Isn't this stamp beautiful? And it would make super simple Christmas cards. I will have to keep this in mind! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Good morning everyone! It's Thursday and that means another challenge at Create with Connie and Mary! This week they are challenging us with a sketch. My favorite kind of challenge! I hope that you will find time to play along. Here is the sketch that they came up with:

And here is my interpretation of this sketch:

Such a super fun and easy sketch! You will notice that I did not use strips of paper or ribbon. Instead, I took my scoring blade and scored the lines on my cardstock! In place of the buttons on the sketch I used two of the designer jewels from the new Holiday mini catalog. Yes, they are shaped into a flourish but I just cut them apart. There are so many ideas that you can do with this sketch! So be sure to check out the other projects from the rest of the design team and then make your own creation! Then be sure to submit it at Create with Connie and Mary so we all can go and see it! You might be in their top three picks! I can't wait to see what you create!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Good morning, Friends! I can't believe that we are starting September! And I can't believe that we are halfway through the week. Nick loves Wednesdays because the school district does early release on Wednesdays and he will be home earlier today. This week he started bringing homework home. The great thing about it is that he doesn't fight us. He just does it! Yes. He is having a super year so far! So not much goes on at home for me anymore. I feel like I am doing the laundry more because he has more practices for soccer and then he also has a baseball practice thrown in. I am also trying to organize some neglected areas of my house. And I do fix dinner more often and that makes us all happier! But I do try to find time to stamp!

Today's card is one that I made a few weeks ago but forgot to post it. I believe that I used a sketch from somewhere but I can't remember where it came from. I really liked the way this card turned out and it is super simple! Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to visit tomorrow to see the new challenge at Create with Connie and Mary!

This is me!

About Me

I am a wife to a wonderful, hard-working husband of 20 years, a mom to a very energetic boy and a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I love to spend time with my family watching baseball games, camping, 4-wheeling as well as winter activities like skiing and snowmobiling.